What Are Gender Roles In A Streetcar Named Desire

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Survey Paper #2 The marriages within the plays Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and A Streetcar Named Desire there are many indicators that their marriages were not healthy as well as gender roles that are not fulfilled based on traditional gender roles. Stella and Stanley as well as Martha and George are constantly arguing and fighting trying to gain more power over the other and trying to get their way by throwing temper tantrums. Throughout A Streetcar Named Desire we see examples of traditional gender roles with Stella and Stanley. Some of the most basic traditional gender roles that are most well-known for example is where women stay at home while the men do all of the breadwinning. The women are also supposed to be the gentle, emotional, …show more content…

George and Martha do not have a particularly tradition relationship by definition of gender roles. Martha does not fit the traditional gender role because she is not the “house keeper”, and throughout the show we see that George does serve Martha instead of the other way around. She does fit within the traditional gender role of females because she isn’t the breadwinner but she does seem to be the boss. She and George have this eternal power struggle going on between them, constantly going back and forth about who gets to tell certain details and who gets to choose what to do. George doesn’t fit the traditional gender roles either, he acts more within the female parameters by being the one to take care of the house and is the one that submits instead of Martha. He does fit into a small portion of the traditional gender roles by being the breadwinner of the house as well as attempting to be the head of the …show more content…

They argue as a way to try and gain more power than the other, the biggest thing that changes the balance of power is their “son.” Their son is only a figment of their imagination, they made him up because they could not have of their own, and it’s why they argue about what he is like. GEORGE. Martha’s lying. I want you to know that, right now. Martha’s lying. There are very few things that I’m certain of anymore. But the one thing. The one thing in this whole sinking world that I am sure of is my partnership in the creation of our blond-eyed blue haired son. MARTHA. Our son does not have blue hair, or blue eyes, for that matter. He has green eyes like me. Such beautiful, beautiful green

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